The Scroll and eReader

The codex also came with a fringe benefit: It created a very different reading experience. With a codex, for the first time, you could jump to any point in a text instantly, nonlinearly. You could flip back and forth between two pages and even study them both at once. You could cross-check passages and compare them and bookmark them. You could skim if you were bored, and jump back to reread your favorite parts. It was the paper equivalent of random-access memory, and it must have been almost supernaturally empowering. With a scroll you could only trudge through texts the long way, linearly.

Despite my love of technology, I prefer to read physical books. I love the tactile feel of paper as I flip the pages, and the aesthetic of printed letters (though the Kindle’s eInk is quite easy on the eyes).

But if I had to name one thing that I dislike the most about ereaders, it’s how I read stuff that’s on a screen – like a scroll.